Trevor Thomas-- 2PAC, Madonna, Mr. Holland Opus... And A Real Jobs Plan For West Michigan

Were you inundated with requests for end-of-the-quarter contributions Friday and Saturday? I sure was. I had hundreds of e-mails from candidates and committees and most of them I just deleted unopened... hoping against hope someone would get the hint. One from the DCCC had an eerie Big Brother is Watching You feel and informed me my contribution was "pending." I'm glad that's over! But do you know what today is? The first day of the all important-- even determinative-- third quarter. As important as everyone said the last quarter was... this one really is. This is the one-- July, August, September-- in which candidates raise the money they need to compete in October or they fail in November. And for candidates with primaries coming up-- like Darcy Burner (August 7), Chris Donovan (August 14), Matt Barber (August 28) and Trevor Thomas (August 7), well... obviously it's do or die.

Wednesday is the 4th of July. The next day, this Thursday, we're going to pick one lucky Trevor Thomas contributor from this page to walk away with the Madonna platinum award plaque for Vogue. It's still not too late to jump in!

Meanwhile, though, we want to send out another thank you to a Trevor Thomas supporter. You might be wondering what that 2PAC video is doing at the top of the page. Those who have been following Blue America for a while will probably remember our old friend, Professor Fred Johnson, the Democratic candidate for Congress in Michigan's second CD in 2010. Fred, who just endorsed Trevor Thomas next door in the 3rd CD, is the author of Tupac Shakur-- The Life And Times Of An American Icon. He gave Blue America an autographed copy of the book to give away today. We'll pick one random Trevor Thomas donor from this page-- today only/any amount-- and send the signed book. In making the endorsement, this is what Dr. Johnson, who teaches history at Hope College in Holland, Michigan had to say:

"Trevor Thomas is running for Congress. Establishment insiders told him to wait. Skeptics said it was a waste of time. Trevor had the guts to listen to everyday people who want a congressman who’ll truly have their interests as his top priority. He knows the issues and he’s fighting for the middle class. He’s fighting for the 99%. I know courage, determination, and vision when I see it, and I endorse Trevor Thomas as he works to make sure that working families and people finally have a Congressman who’ll work for them."

And Fred Johnson does know courage, determination, and vision when he sees it. Before writing about Tupac and before becoming a professor, Fred served as an Infantry Officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. He joins another prominent military vet who endorsed Trevor this week, former Congressman Patrick Murphy, who worked closely with Trevor to successfully repeal the odious Don't Ask, Don't Tell legislation. Trevor has also been endorsed by former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, former Michigan Lieutenant Governor John Cherry, Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Congressional Progressive Caucus Vice Chair Chellie Pingree (D-ME) and former Kent County Republican Party chair Bob Eleveld, who has signed on as Trevor's campaign co-chairman.

As we explained last month, Trevor put out a comprehensive policy and jobs plan for West Michigan, the only candidate in the race taking the most important concern on the minds of voters seriously. I want to share a letter I got from an accomplished product of Grand Rapids, writer and film director Patrick Sheane Duncan. You probably know him as the guy who wrote Vietnam War Story, Courage Under Fire, and Souls On Fire but he also wrote and produced Mr. Holland's Opus in 1995, which starred Richard Dreyfuss and was described by Patrick as "a movie about chasing dreams and it's about what one person can do to impact the lives of others."

So why am I emailing you? Well I'm offering a signed script from the movie, but first I want to tell you about something happening in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

I grew up in West Michigan as a teenager. In 1965, I enlisted and served a 15-month tour of duty in Vietnam in the US Army with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, and attended Grand Valley, a local college, on the G.I. Bill. 

Trevor Thomas-- raised by two parents who worked the lines of General Motors for 34 years-- chose Grand Valley to take up journalism. He later went on to direct the national communications effort to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"-- a defining moment in our country for ending discrimination. Today he is running for Congress in Grand Rapids. And with a little help, he has a chance to turn President Jerry Ford's old Congressional seat blue. Former Governor Jennifer Granholm is standing with him.

But there's one major obstacle: He has been challenged in the Democratic Primary.

Trevor is pro-choice. His Democratic Primary opponent is not. Trevor has visited and supported the folks at Planned Parenthood, while his primary opponent voted to defund the organization. Trevor is taking out loans to cover personal costs. His primary opponent has holdings in the tens of millions.

And, yes, Trevor is gay, and the first to run in Michigan openly and honestly at the federal level.

This is an underdog story, but with your help we can put him over the top. Get involved now or donate $25, $50, or even $150, I'll give away a signed copy of the script to a lucky supporter.

-Pat Duncan

So you can still sign up for the Madonna platinum record here, the signed 2PAC book by Fred Johnson here or the Mr. Holland Opus signed script here.

Bill Huizenga, Another Republican Who Says Women Must Bear The Offspring Of Rapists

As I contemplated Rachel Maddow's special next week, The Assassination of Dr. Tiller, my mind took me back to a conversation I had a few months ago with Lance Penny, campaign manager for Blue America's only endorsed candidate in Michigan this year, Fred Johnson. It was just after a primary debate in which a young man in the audience asked the candidates, "If your daughter was impregnated via rape or incest, how would that affect your position on abortion?" One after another, the Republican candidates declared "God has a plan for everything", and declared themselves anti-choice in all cases. After Bill Huizenga (the eventual winner of the GOP primary, currently Fred's opponent) declared himself opposed to all procedures, except in the case of the life of the mother (what a guy!), he gave a sort of "tough shit" shrug. 



Is this really the sort of smug, heartless careerist the people of West Michigan want representing them in Congress? Someone who would force a victim of criminal violence to complete a pregnancy as a result? Give birth to her own brother or sister? And yet, this seems to be the dominant thought in today's Republican Party. Can you find one of their candidates who admits openly about not going along with this line of thought? Parts of Michigan's 2nd district are extremely conservative-- Lance described Ottawa County as "making Orange County look like San Francisco"-- but this is over the top, and Fred told me he will be taking this issue head on in debates coming up in the district. I spoke with him a few days ago about it and this is what he said... on the record:

"When I heard the Republican primary candidates answer this young man's question, I thought of my sisters and how I'd feel if one of them was in this position. It baffles me how anyone running for public office can stand in front of a room full of people and suggest using the criminal justice system to inflict further torment on victims of rape and incest. Isn't it enough to have to go through this trauma at all, never mind compounding it by forcing the victim to carry the perpetrator's child? I couldn't believe my ears when he gave this answer. And it was on a question-- if you had heard the young man's original wording, which included the phrase 'if a daughter of yours'-- concerning his own daughter! I understand the moral dilemma regarding abortion-- the whole issue is one big moral dilemma so, although I'm pro-choice, I also understand the misgivings folks have.  However, there's no kind of middle ground whatsoever on this piece of the issue-- you either want to protect rape and incest victims or you don't. Apparently my opponent doesn't want to protect them. We can't have zealots substituting their own extreme religious doctrine for compassionate law on this fundamental issue."

Fred, another tough progressive challenger being studiously ignored by the DCCC, is running a great grassroots campaign. This district has a massive 44,000 first time voters from 2008-- one of the top ten totals for any congressional district in the country. The campaign is already doing radio ad outreach to African-American voters, as well as shooting an ad tonight that they will be running on Comedy Central, to reach the young white voters who voted in an outpouring of rebellion against the strict Christian Reformed upbringing many of them have been subjected to while growing up.  Here's the radio ad:

Let's send a clear, loud message to the anti-choice zealots. Defeat the favorite son candidate of the Family Research Council, the founders of which are from Fred's district. You can do it right here at the Blue America ActBlue page.

The Flat Tax Rears Its Ugly Head In West Michigan Again-- And Fred Johnson Is Here To Smack It Down

If a woman is raped by her grandfather, Bill Huizenga believes she should be forced to have the child

Fred Johnson is running for the West Michigan congressional seat currently occupied by Pete Hoekstra who ran an unsuccessful race for governor and is trying to replace himself with one of his cronies, Bill Huizenga, a shady real estate agent, climate change denier, anti-choice fanatic and anti-healthcare zealot. Even Republicans in the area are mistrustful of Huizenga after a sketchy record in the state House, where he voted for an unpopular business tax and an unpopular tourism tax. We asked to catch us up on the race and here's his report:

My campaign manager and I were sitting in the office the other night, just talking about the campaign and going over our calendar, when I asked him, "What's Huizenga up to?" He said, "I haven't looked at his site for awhile-- let's have a peek." So we went to his site and-- lo and behold... he had a new issues page up. Well, when we got done looking it over in detail, we were appalled. After the usual rubbish about cutting taxes and regulations, denying climate change, full blown anti-choice, and all the rest of it, we got to the one that floored me: the flat tax.  

How in the world these people can still be pushing this completely ridiculous idea is beyond me. How many economists are they willing to ignore? I really thought this was an idea that was starting to be revealed as bogus, even to the right wingers. Does he really mean this seriously, or is it just pandering to something out of a poll? We've got high unemployment here in Michigan. The middle class has already endured years of hammering, with our manufacturing jobs being shipped overseas because of the idiotic tax code that promotes off-shoring of jobs. Now he wants to institute a flat tax, and finish off the middle class. I just can't get over it.

This is a totally discredited idea, which would not only crush the already overwhelmed middle class with a new tax burden, but would blow a huge hole in the deficit. I find it odd that these folks are deficit hawks when it comes to extending unemployment benefits, or continuing the incredibly ill-conceived Bush tax cuts, but when you want to enact a payroll tax holiday, or invest in infrastructure and clean energy technology, all of a sudden there's a big, huge deficit problem. The hypocrisy is staggering. I suppose when you're nominating folks like Christine O'Donnell and Sharron Angle, you've pretty much given up on any sort of consistency.

We're working really hard to present West Michigan with a serious choice. On the one hand, voters can do what they usually do-- send a hard-right climate change ostrich, with crazy ideas like the flat tax, or they can choose our team, and our vision of restoring the middle class, standing up to the big money special interests, and investing in the economic future we all know we have to embrace. It's a very clear choice, and we're starting to get traction with our message.  

Blue America's endorsement was the start of the progressive movement joining my campaign.  Moveon.org is voting on our race right now, and I expect that endorsement after the close of voting at 11:59 tonight. The Sierra Club will be officially announcing their endorsement of our campaign at a press conference on the Lake Michigan beach on Monday. Things are starting to come together for us, and we're fighting hard. We really appreciate the netroots support we've gotten-- we're the fourth highest ActBlue account out of the 15 congressional districts in the state. We have organizers in place in the key urban areas, and we'll be running a campaign that combines grassroots organizing with low-budget radio and cable advertising, to get our positive message of change out to the voters. So, a big thanks needs to go out to you and the netroots world, because you all are what keeps us going.

UPDATE: Contribute to Fred's Campaign Today And Win A Middle States CD

Minneapolis-based band, The Middle States, has contributed 30 autographs CDs, Happy Fun Party, for the first 30 people who donate at least $25.00 to Fred's campaign through Blue America today. Here they are playing "Winds of Eiderdown" from that album live:

Blue America-Backed Fred Johnson Scores A Solid Win In Michigan Primary

We were pretty certain Fred would win, and he won convincingly: around 60% of the Democratic primary voters went for him in Michigan's Second Congressional District, between the western suburbs of Grand Rapids and Lake Michigan and stretching from Allegan County all the way up to Benzie County. I spoke with him late last night, and he was feeling more than ready to take on either ex-state Rep. Bill Huizenga or local Family Research Council kook Jay Riemersma between now and November, whichever one winds up winning their neck and neck primary that is probably headed for a recount.

I'm delighted, first of all, with the great show of unity in tonight's results. It shows that folks remember me in a positive light from 2008. That's been the idea all along-- to build on our respectable showing against Pete Hoekstra in 2008. It's great to be able to head into the fall campaign knowing that Democrats are solidly behind my candidacy.

Having said that, the road ahead is bumpier. You're well aware of the history of the district-- been red since Moses was a baby, and all that. So, while it's challenging, it's not impossible to turn a district like this one. We take great heart in the fact that Senator Levin won here in '08, and the President only missed winning by less than two thousand votes. There is great movement taking place here. Look at what they call the "surge" voters-- the ones who voted for the first time in '08, and heavily for Obama. We have forty four thousand of them here in the second district-- one of the highest numbers in the country. If we can get them energized and out to vote again, we've got a real, real shot at this thing.

And that's really why I'm in this again. With the seat opening up because of Pete's [failed] gubernatorial run, we can get this done. And it's extremely important that we do. Look at the direction of the Republican party nationally, and here on the Lakeshore. There's just this incredibly partisan, win-at-all-costs mentality. It's like they just can't bear being out of power. So, they put roadblocks in front of everything. I mean everything. Name the last bill that didn't get filibustered in the Senate, or that they didn't try some procedural stuff with in the House. Even this bill for the 9/11 responders. I mean, are they serious about all this rubbish? They're willing to cross their own professed "values" just to stop the White House from winning on anything. It's utterly ridiculous.

And that's reflected very strongly in tonight's result in our district. If nominating the Midwest Regional Director of the Family Research Council-- which looks likely at this moment-- doesn't tell you all you need to know about the direction they're taking, then you're just not paying attention. And they'll try to make a "rock star" out of him, undoubtedly. That's what's so alarming about tonight's likely result on their side. This is a guy who made millions in the NFL, then slid into this job at the FRC. No experience at doing much of anything in the political world. There's really nothing to him, other than the radical rhetoric. So, while I'm a bit disheartened that voters here would actually nominate Jay, I'm also fired up about taking him on. There won't be any guessing necessary on the part of the voters. They'll know what kind of a choice they have.

And the netroots are starting to become more aware of this race, too-- thanks in large part to your work, and the Blue America endorsement. We've been really impressed with the support we've received via your Act Blue page. And we're going to need the netroots even more going forward. My campaign staff really expect to see an outpouring of money from the Family Research Council membership, now that Jay is nominated. So, there you go-- it's game on between the progressives and the social conservatives. That's a flag I'm proud to fly, and I'll tell it like it is, you can be sure of that. It's going to be very interesting, I think, to see what happens when you pit a strong, progressive candidate against a die-hard Christian right candidate. This district is used to kind of milque-toast type candidates-- although Pete Hoekstra is obviously way more extreme than he's perceived around here. So, again, it really is game on... we'll see whose grassroots are stronger.

Even if times are tough, if you can please consider even $5.00 or $10.00 for Fred's general election campaign.


UPDATE: 660 Vote Margin On The Far, Far, Far Right

With 100% of precincts now reporting, Bill Huizenga-- former District Chief of Staff to Pete Hoekstra-- is being declared the victor by local press. He has a 660 vote margin over Jay Riemersma, who is waiting on the 48 hour verification of ballots in Ottawa County before deciding whether to concede or pursue a recount. If Huizenga does become the nominee, as seems likely now, it does little to change the dynamic of this race. It becomes Pete Hoekstra redux, complete with all the ties to the sleazy DeVos and VanAndel families (Amway-- pollution of the Thornapple River, and the pyramid-like business model), and the Prince family (er...Blackwater, anyone?). A doctrinaire social and economic conservative, Huizenga would continue the Hoekstra legacy of bending with whichever way the partisan winds are blowing, currently, very extremist.

Riemersma won't be pursuing a recount after all and some say he lost because he was caught trying to steal the eelction, illegally coordinating negative campaign strategy-- and large expenditures-- with a shady religious right group, a tactic Republicans normally just use against Democrats.

Family Research Council and Request Foods Attack Gays In Holland

I was living in Holland in the early '70s when I finally figured out I was probably gay. I didn't know what to do. So I went to a psychologist and told him. He looked at me and asked me if I had come to his office to get the address of some gay bars. I'm glad I figured it out in Amsterdam, Holland and not Holland, Michigan. I probably wouldn't have even read this story today about an anti-gay outburst in Holland (Michigan) except for the fact that I've been talking with someone in Holland (Michigan) frequently for the last couple of months. Fred Johnson, the Blue America-endorsed congressional candidate for the seat being abandoned by Pete Hoekstra lives in Holland. So I read the story... and then called Fred. Fred, a former Marine who now teaches college history (and wrote a scholarly book about Tupac Shakur) had written a letter to the editor of the local paper. Let's start with that and work backwards:

Dear Editor,

This letter is in response to a recent advertisement in your newspaper, sponsored by the Family Research Council and Request Foods, concerning efforts to bar discrimination against gays and lesbians.

I strongly disagree with the content of this advertisement. Banning any and all discrimination in hiring and contracting is a central civil rights issue. Among the many falsehoods in this ad is the notion that gay people are not disadvantaged by discrimination. Are they kidding? Anti-gay bigotry is one the most virulent forms of discrimination in society today.

I'd like to commend the work of Holland Is Ready, which is working hard to end this denial of civil rights through passage of a strong city ordinance against such discrimination.

Fred Johnson

Now, when you read what the Family Research Council is up to in Holland, keep in mind that-- barring an upset in the GOP primary-- Fred's likely opponent in November will be Jay Riemersma, a former football player who became the regional head of... the Family Research Council. This is from the original report from PrideSource on Wednesday:

A community group that is trying to make Holland more accepting of gay people planned to meet Wednesday, July 28, to decide how to respond to a full-page advertisement in the local daily newspaper that one of its leaders said included "blatant untruths" about gay people.

See the ad in its entirety here. (.pdf file)

The ad, which was sponsored by the Family Research Council and Request Foods and published July 23 in The Holland Sentinel, made reference to efforts toward broadening the city's anti-discrimination ordinance to include sexual orientation and gender identity. The Holland City Council has referred the measure to its Human Resources Commission for review.

The ad stated that "pro-homosexual activists" were trying to give Holland gays and lesbians "special protections" under employment discrimination laws and called homosexuality a choice that is "harmful to individuals and to society."

A steering committee for the group Holland Is Ready, which is supporting efforts to pass the anti-discrimination ordinance, planned to meet Wednesday morning to decide its course of action.

"I was sad to see this ad in our local paper, but it's typical of groups like the FRC, who are becoming more and more desperate in their communication," said Jennifer Adams, an organizer of the group. "Their approach is to engender fear by spreading blatant untruths about LGBT people."

The ad isn't just misleading about gay people, it's filled with typical hate-filled right wing slanders. "Among other things, the ad said homosexuals can be changed into heterosexuals "sometimes spontaneously, and sometimes as a result of therapeutic interventions," that homosexuals experience considerably higher levels of mental illness and substance abuse than heterosexuals and that gay people are not seriously disadvantaged by discrimination."

LGBT groups like Holland Is Ready and straight allies like Fred Johnson are going to have to face this in their community. Republicans like Pete Hoesktra, the FRC-endorsed Michigan gubernatorial candidate and Jay Riemersma want to run on this kind of divisive, hateful issue, rather than the Republican record of driving the economy into a ditch-- and they certainly don't want to have to spend the campaign defending Republicans who favor drilling for oil and gas in Lake Michigan. If you'd like to help Fred Johnson fight these bigots off and win the House seat there, you can do it at the Blue America candidates page.

This garbage dump of hatred & bigotry, masquerading as religion, is trying to take over Michigan politics

The Fish Rots From The Head: Pete Hoekstra, Pat Toomey

Not your parents' Republican Party

Not all Republicans are identical--but they're all so afraid of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, the Club For Growth and the teabagger psychosis that has taken roots in the GOP activist base, that it's virtually meaningless to parse the public differences. Thursday, when the president was in Michigan, a relatively mainstream conservative, gubernatorial candidate Rep. Pete Hoekstra showed up to try to bask in the presidential glow. It didn't work. Obama was speaking at a high tech battery plant that has benefited from stimulus money and he welcomed Hoekstra during his opening remarks. Later whatever pleasured Hoekstra may have felt, was shattered.

"There are some folks who want to go back, who think we should return to the policies that helped to lead to this recession," Obama said later in his comments honoring an advanced car battery factory being built by the company LG Chem. "Some made the political calculation that it's better to obstruct than lend a hand. They said no to the tax cuts, they said no to small-business loans, they said no to clean-energy projects. It doesn't stop them from coming to ribbon-cuttings -- but that's okay."

Hoekstra felt the shoe fit, wore it and called Obama's remarks "unpresidential." The Democrat seeking to replace him in Congress, Fred Johnson, an author and history professor who doesn't always agree with every Obama policy, came to the President's defense. "The President had every reason under the sun to call out Pete Hoekstra. How many times do we have to watch Republicans cut ribbons on projects they opposed before we say something? Pete said it was 'unpresidential'. Well, it's just plain uncaring to oppose job creation-- especially when you're running for Governor of the state with the second highest unemployment in the country. I'm out here in Pete's district, knocking on doors every day, and I can tell you that his constituents want job creation. So, I applaud the President's honesty, and we all need to follow his lead and expose this brand of hypocrisy."

The President was called worse than "unpresidential" by Republicans this week-- and one of most extreme ones anywhere, Pat Toomey, a tawdry Wall Street derivatives trader running against Joe Sestak for the open Pennsylvania Senate seat, did it out loud. Most political observers in Pennsylvania see Toomey as something of a sociopath so few were genuinely shocked when he stepped over the line yesterday and questioned the President's patriotism.

Speaking to an American Legion convention in Harrisburg, the former Congressman said, "there are some in Washington who don't really believe in American exceptional-ism."

He warned the mindset can lead to "very troubling policies" and deference to other countries.

After the event, Toomey said he was talking about President Obama.

"I think if you look at his quotes and how he has responded to questions about this, President Obama is at best very skeptical about the idea about American exceptionalism."

Toomey later clarified American exceptionalism as "the belief the United States' model of freedom and free enterprise is the best one."

Democrat Joe Sestak disagrees, saying, "falsely accusing the Commander-in-Chief of being less than fully patriotic harms the nation's goals."

I don't know Toomey personally but judging from statements like this, there can be little doubt that the far right former head of the Club For Growth would have been very much at home in the Nazi Party had he been born in Germany a century ago. He would be a catastrophe in the U.S. Senate, easily as bad as Sharron Angle, Ken Buck or any of the other radicals from the Jim DeMint fringe of the GOP. We reached Joe Sestak, a former Admiral and the highest ranking military officer serving in Congress. He was very measured in his response:

You can disagree with the President's policies, but there has always been bipartisan belief that the President of the United States holds high America's ideals. Falsely accusing the Commander-in-Chief of being less than fully patriotic harms the nation's goals and prevents a serious debate on the policies we should be pursuing.

It's the radical nature of remarks by supposedly respectable politicians like Toomey, that give permission to the violent race-baiters and bigots to stir up the kinds of divisiveness and tensions the GOP is hoping to use to ride back into power in November.

In his weekly address this morning, the President laid out the case against Republicans, "a partisan minority in the Senate," for obstructing progress. I bet they'll be screaming their heads off all next week. Of course Obama doesn't mention conservative Democrats like Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln who also obstruct progress. If you want to change the Senate, the best thing we can do-- personally I favor making it a ceremonial office with no veto power-- please go to the Blue America page Senate Candidates Worth Fighting For, where you'll find men and women like Joe Sestak, Elaine Marshall, and Jack Conway. Meanwhile, this is worth watching:

Drill, Baby, Drill... In The Great Lakes?

This weekend Blue America hosted a live chat with Michigan progressive Democrat Fred Johnson at Crooks and Liars. And one of the issues in his race people were most worked up over involves drilling for oil in the Great Lakes. Republicans, always eager to please their buddies at Big Oil, are pushing for it. Fred, of course-- like most residents of the beautiful lakeside counties-- opposes it. In response to a question about drilling in Lake Michigan, Fred was crystal clear:

I talk about the windpower potential of the lakeshore with voters all the time. There is some NIMBYism out there, and I am cognizant of the local concerns relative to tourism. However, we have to get serious about this, or Big Oil will definitely come after the Lakes. I'm continually amazed that as a vast body of water is being destroyed by Big Oil there are still those who behave as though the threat from drilling was an issue that needed further study. We must become energy independent. We must start as soon as possible. We must begin the process of transitioning from fossil fuels to alternative energy sources and support the President's efforts to build a "Green" economy.

Drilling in the Great Lakes IS NOT THE SOLUTION TO ACHIEVING ANY OF THOSE AIMS IN THE SHORT OR LONG TERM. Further, suggesting such a thing only serves to validate the extent of Big Oil's influence in government. Enough!!!

Radical right Club for Growth kook Pat Toomey (R-PA) has been advocating drilling in Lake Erie for some time now, something that could endanger the drinking water for roughly 40 million Americans. Even back in 2001, when Toomey was in Congress, he voted against a tremendously popular-- and bipartisan bill, H.R. 2311 to prohibit drilling in the Great Lakes watershed. More recently, when Toomey was campaigning in Erie he was questioned by John Guerriero from the Erie Times-News, he was still talking about how wonderful drilling in the Great Lakes would be:

While Toomey was in Erie on what he called his small-business tour, his Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, of Delaware County, released a video online with a Lake Erie theme.

The video focuses on the lake and highlights Toomey's vote in 2001 to allow drilling in the Great Lakes.

The Sestak campaign said Toomey should be reminded how much Erie relies on a tourism economy and the jobs that come with it.

An oil spill similar to BP's crisis in the Gulf of Mexico would contaminate all of the lake, Sestak's campaign said.

Toomey called it a "ridiculous comparison'' because the blown-out BP wellhead is one mile below the water surface, while the deepest part of Lake Erie is 210 feet.

Toomey said he would not categorically and immediately rule out any Great Lakes drilling.

Rep. Joe Sestak, who beat the Establishment Machine and Arlen Specter to win the Democratic Senate nomination opposes Big Oil's calls for allowing drilling in the Great Lakes. Like Fred Johnson in Michigan, Joe Sestak is clear as a bell about drilling in Lake Erie: "Congressman Toomey's willingness to allow drilling in the Great Lakes shows that he does not understand the immense benefits of Lake Erie for the people of Erie County. He would put at risk the keystone of Erie's economy for the benefit of a few corporations and their shareholders. In the event of a catastrophic accident-- like the BP disaster-- countless small businesses would be forced to close, and tens of thousands of jobs would be lost."

Yesterday evening after reading this Sam Stein report at HuffPo, I tweeted this:

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ron Johnson found himself under the political microscope late last week after it was revealed that he owns up to $315,000 in BP stock while he has defended the oil giant against its critics and called for continued offshore drilling.

The Wisconsin businessman-- who is vying, in a closer-than-expected contest, for Sen. Russ Feingold's (D-Wisc.) seat-- has spent the last few weeks trying to temper criticism of BP in the wake of the Gulf spill. Johnson, whom national Democrats like to refer to as the "forgotten Tea Party candidate," has expressed disappointment with the administration's "assault" on BP. At the same time, he's been a vocal advocate for continued and even accelerated oil and gas exploration, going so far as to express an openness to drilling in the Great Lakes.

"The bottom line is we are an oil-based economy," he told the site WisPolitics in mid-June, when asked about drilling in the Great Lakes. "There's nothing we're gonna do to get off of that for many, many years. I think we have to be realistic and recognize that fact and, you know, I, I think we have to, get the oil where it is, but we have to do it where it is."

Those comments and many others make Johnson among the most pro-drilling pols in a Republican Party filled with drilling proponents. But in offering his support for the practice, Johnson didn't reveal that he has serious financial stakes in the continued success of BP and the greater oil and gas industry.

This is what it means to be a sociopath. It's not illegal... but it makes no sense at all to elect them to public office so they can turn us all into their victims. And, of course, it isn't just Ron Johnson putting this country in danger for his own narrow interests-- and it isn't only Republicans in the Great Lakes states either. Just yesterday, Heather Beaven reminded us that a Florida sociopath, John Mica, brags on his website that "I voted to drill in the Everglades in the 1970’s and I’d do it again today.” Mica is on Big Oil's payroll-- and so are several members of his family. He puts their financial interests ahead of the interests of the country. That's what it means to be a Republican politician in the 21st Century.


UPDATE: Russ Feingold Explains Why He Opposes Drilling In The Great Lakes



This is from a press release Feingold sent out this morning:

Johnson, who gave a speech before the Gulf oil spill in which he said, “Big Oil [is] not evil,” has repeatedly defended the oil industry, including BP, telling the media after the Gulf oil spill, “[T]his is not the time to be beating up on those guys, quite honestly.”

News reports have also detailed Johnson’s support for oil drilling in national wildlife areas and his opposition to more caution before undertaking new oil-drilling projects in light of the worst oil spill disaster in American history. Johnson also opposes the BP compensation fund for victims of the Gulf oil spill.

One month ago, Johnson was asked by the media, "Would you support drilling like in the Great Lakes, for example, if there was oil found there?"

Johnson said, “Yeah. You know, the bottom line is that we are an oil-based economy. There’s nothing we’re going to do to get off of that for many, many years, so I think we have to just be realistic and recognize that fact. And I think we have to get the oil where it is…”

Last week, with ongoing media coverage of the BP oil spill, and after weeks of delaying the financial disclosures required, it was revealed by the media that Johnson has invested as much as $315,000 with BP, $50,001 to $100,000 in Exxon Mobil and $15,001 to $50,000 in Occidental Petroleum Corp.

Wisconsin relies on the Great Lakes for everything from food to jobs and from power to recreation. According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 1.6 million Wisconsin residents get their fresh water directly from the Great Lakes. 

On July 12, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported the area of the Gulf affected by the oil sheen is 84,101 square miles – an area nearly the same size as all five Great Lakes combined.

Feingold voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which has funded maintenance of Wisconsin’s harbors and canals, restored fish and wildlife habitats, and reduced pollution, including clean water and drinking water revolving loan funds, the Ashland NFWCO Fish Passage Program, Fox River dam infrastructure improvements, the Fox River navigation system’s lock keeper houses, improvements to the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal and harbor, and the Kewaunee and Manitowoc harbor dredging projects.

...The League of Conservation Voters recognizes Feingold as having one of the best lifetime voting records of any current U.S. Senator. The Wisconsin Wildlife Federation and National Wildlife Federation have honored him for his efforts to protect water quality and fight for wetlands protections.

The State of Wisconsin honored Feingold for his strong support of State Wildlife Grants and he was awarded the Clean Water Champion Award by the Clean Water Network for his leadership on the Clean Water Restoration Act.

Do Democrats Have A Chance To Win Obama Surge Voters This Year?

It's quite a leap for an Obama surge voter to be expected to turn out for a reactionary Blue Dog who virtually always votes against their interests-- like, let's say, John Barrow (D-GA). Today's Washington Post looked at these surge voters and what they found augurs poorly for Blue Dogs in general, and for Blue Dogs in primaries like Barrow in particular. Keep in mind that Obama won GA-12 (a stretch of eastern Georgia from Augusta to Savannah) 54-45%, after a narrow Bush win in 2004. And a week from this Tuesday, Barrow faces popular African-American former state Senator Regina Thomas. In the 2008 primary Obama endorsed Barrow, who had promised to support healthcare reform. Barrow was one of reform's most treacherous opponents-- voting against healthcare in committee, in countless procedural votes, and all three times when it ultimately mattered-- and this year the silence from the White House has been deafening.

The loyalty many blacks feel to Obama does not always spill over to other Democratic candidates... Cornell Belcher, a Democratic pollster, warned that not even politically engaged black voters like Kendrix are necessarily going to turn out for Democrats in the fall. "These are Obama voters. These are not Democratic voters," he said. "They are leaning toward Democrats in their views, but these surge voters are not a part of the traditional Democratic voting bloc. That's the big X factor here. We can't turn surge voters out by two weeks of black radio."

Largely ineffectual party organizations like the DNC/OFA, DCCC and DSCC are running around like chickens without heads, wasting money trying to persuade Obama surge voters that dependable John Boehner supporters like Barrow-- as well as Travis Childers (Blue Dog-MS), Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL), Frank Kratovil (Blue Dog-MD), Glenn Nye (Blue Dog-VA), Joe Donnelly (Blue Dog-IN), Charlie Melancon (Blue Dog-LA), Brad Ellsworth (Blue Dog-IN), Scott Murphy (Blue Dog-NY), Betsey Markey (Blue Dog-CO) and even non-Blue Dog reactionaries like Suzanne Kosmas (FL), John Adler (NJ), Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ), Harry Teague (NM), Tom Perriello (VA), Michael McMahon (NY), and Larry Kissell (NC)-- merit support. Their spurious case is that although these congressmembers have consistently voted against the interests of working families, some through corruption (like Kosmas and Adler), some through ideology (like Childers, Ellsworth and Bright), some through cowardice and confusion (like Kissell, Perriello and Markey), and others, like Barrow, from a combination of all these factors, African-Americans should do the knee-jerk shuffle down to the polling places and vote for them again. If it doesn't work, and it looks like it won't, Democrats in the House could well be giving up their primo parking spots and corner offices to make way for Speaker Boehner and his team. Career criminal Darrell Issa is already promising to hire a team of investigators to tie up the presidency for the second half of what is likely to be Obama's single somewhat wretched term.

Is there anything Americans can do to prevent this national calamity? Clearly, following the lead of clueless and compromised Inside the Beltway Democrats, many of whom are as corrupt and venal as the Republicans, is the wrong way to go. A week from Tuesday Barrow faces a day of reckoning in the Georgia primary. In November-- with a disillusioned and listless Democratic base-- his brand of Republican-lite conservatism will have no chance against a real Republican. That can be staved off with a defeat on July 20 and a victory for a progressive champion like Regina Thomas. Obama surge voters have far more reason to vote for her than even for the sketchy Obama! (Blue America is running cable TV ads for her now, and we have a page that allows you to pick the program and the town you want to see ads run on, ads that cost as little as $4 and $8 a spot.) Defeating one Blue Dog in one district-- even as reprehensible a cur as Barrow-- isn't going to save Democratic majorities in November. Going on the offense may, although Debbie Wasserman Schultz at the DCCC is preventing that by monopolizing virtually every cent the DCCC has in her sordid incumbent protection racket.

Yesterday Blue America hosted a fired-up and brilliant Democratic candidate, Dr. Fred Johnson, ex-marine and current professor, in a live blogging session at Crooks and Liars. While looking at his responses to questions, I tweeted this:


By all means go back and read the transcript. This is exactly the kind of race progressives need to get involved with. First of all, Johnson-- unlike conservatives like Barrow and the lot listed above-- is a smart, working-family-oriented problem-solver. Second, he is exactly the kind of candidate who will inspire Obama surge voters to come to the polls, not stay away from them. Michigan's Second Congressional District has been thought of as a deeply red hellhole. It isn't, and this year the seat is open as the lame incumbent tries for higher office. But where Gore only managed 38% in 2000 and Kerry 39% in 2004, Obama surge voters left McCain with a meager 51% victory in 2008. And if Republicans keep screeching on behalf of their Big Oil contributors about drilling for oil in the Great Lakes-- the source of drinking water for 40 million Americans-- the kinds of environmentally friendly independents who determine winners and losers in MI-02 are not going to vote for Republicans in November. Johnson's response to a question by Digby about Republicans wanting to drill in the Great Lakes was unambiguous and forthright, leaving no doubt whatsoever where he stands on the issue, even if corporate shills on both sides of the aisle-- what better pair of posterchildren for this than Louisiana crooks David Vitter (R) and Mary Landrieu (D)?-- do all they can to confuse the issue and try coming across on both sides of it. Fred Johnson:

I talk about the windpower potential of the lakeshore with voters all the time. There is some NIMBYism out there, and I am cognizant of the local concerns relative to tourism. However, we have to get serious about this, or Big Oil will definitely come after the Lakes. I'm continually amazed that as a vast body of water is being destroyed by Big Oil there are still those who behave as though the threat from drilling was an issue that needed further study. We must become energy independent. We must start as soon as possible. We must begin the process of transitioning from fossil fuels to alternative energy sources and support the President's efforts to build a "Green" economy.

Drilling in the Great Lakes IS NOT THE SOLUTION TO ACHIEVING ANY OF THOSE AIMS IN THE SHORT OR LONG TERM. Further, suggesting such a thing only serves to validate the extent of Big Oil's influence in government. Enough!!!

And Fred is far more than a package of answers to policy questions. The man is an inspirational figure who inspires confidence because of his instincts and the way his mind works. In response to a question about the book he wrote on Tupac Shakur's life, he talked about examining "the social and historical contexts of the period that inspired the music, dictated the method and degree of the music's impact, and determined where, and to what, extent Tupac's bold lyrics and his occasionally misguided behavior made him such a powerful representative of the realities and struggles existing in urban America from the late 1980s through the mid-1990s."

Writing Tupac's biography reinforced my already acute awareness of the need to continue the fight against poverty, homelessness, joblessness, and the despair among young people. It also presented a grim opportunity to compare how the actions of Wall Street criminals in the 1980s had wreaked havoc on the economy and working people just as the “Street's” criminals have done in the 21st century. What was especially interesting was discovering the extent to which right wing ideologues had been intentional and relentless in their steady prosecution of an over three decade assault on the middle class, working families, and America's most cherished democratic institutions for the benefit of moneyed special interests. Their methods of distorting truth, destroying the nation's manufacturing base, and distracting people from the urgent issues of the day with endless debate on cultural controversies, and the overall attempt to shrink and hobble the federal government so that it literally has great difficulty responding to catastrophes like Hurricane Katrina or the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico are not new. Tupac, in his own way, knew about them and he, at least, had the guts to challenge those in power.

The DNC, DCCC and DSCC may be hopeless, but Democrats and progressives can make headway despite them. Supporting candidates like Regina Thomas and Fred Johnson is a vital component of accomplishing that. Both of them-- as well as progressive opponents to other worthless hacks, from Michele Bachmann and John Boehner to Tim Griffin and Virginia Foxx-- are on this page. Anyone there you'd care to help win a seat?

Blue America Welcomes Fred Johnson (D-MI)

One of the sharpest candidates running for the House this year is Dr. Fred Johnson in western Michigan, for a seat being abandoned by the ever-ambitious twitterer Pete Hoekstra. In April Fred did a great guest post at DWT on education and societal priorities-- well worth reading. Today, Blue America's latest endorsed candidate, he's joining us for a live blogging session at Crooks and Liars, 2pm in Michigan, 11am, PT. Before we get into the reasons we've endorsed Fred for the seat, I want to mention that he gave us an autographed copy of a book he wrote with Tayannah Lee McQuillar, Tupac Shakur: The Life And Times Of An American Icon which we will be giving away to a randomly selected donor today. To qualify for the drawing, please give any amount-- there is no minimum-- at the Blue America PAC page. You might be interested in knowing that all the money donated through this page this weekend will be put towards campaign advertising on Michigan blogs.

A former marine and a genuine progressive, Fred is well positioned to take advantage of the rapidly changing demographics and political identifications in the district. 2008 saw a huge jump in the Democratic vote throughout the district. This was delivered primarily through the top-notch voter registration and GOTV efforts of the Campaign for Change. The district now has a whopping 45,000 first time voters, who can deliver this seat to Fred in November. Despite the fact that conventional wisdom calls this a safe Republican district, it is very much worth noting that Senator Levin won here with 53% of the vote, and President Obama fell just short, at 48.5%. This district is turning purple rapidly, and 2010 can complete the process.

To give you a sense of Fred's priorities, here's a statement he gave me soon after I first met him this spring:

There are two interrelated issues that command the attention of any freshman progressive Representative: financial reform and campaign finance reform. The hard fact is that the two are so intertwined as to be inseperable. 
 
The mavens of Wall Street have proven both their incompetence, and their venality. Only the strongest possible financial reform package will stop another catastrophe from hitting our economy.  As a historian, I strongly reject the revisionism currently in vogue on the right, and feel that the reimposition of Glass-Steagall, and a whole host of strong reform measures is now demanded of Congress by the American people. This is one area where I diverge from the President. I believe we need stronger financial reform. Too big to fail is just plain too big.
 
But, how do we get there when the lobbyists and PACs of Wall Street have so much influence? My number one priority upon taking office will be the Fair Elections Now Act. This bill is a great first step in leveling the playing field at election time. But we need to do more. I strongly support the package of legislation being drafted by Rep. Frank and his colleagues in the Banking Committee. We need to take every avenue available to us to undo the destruction of the last vestiges of fairness in our campaign system wrought by the Citizens United decision. Whether it be through statutory restrictions on the political activities of corporations or, at minimum, much greater influence on the part of shareholders, we must strongly address campaign finance in order to have any chance at real reforms in other areas.

There are virtually no problems our country faces that can be solved without first solving the way the ruling elites can buy and sell our politicians and manipulate our system for their own benefit. One that Fred would very much like to address-- as would the people living along Lake Michigan's eastern shore has to do with protecting the environment, something very much treasured for its natural beauty and recreational opportunities by most of the people living there. I say "most" because, believe it or not, there are Big Oil corporate types and the Republicans who they finance and who serve their interests who actually want to drill for oil in the Great Lakes! I'm not kidding. Just last week Pat Toomey, an ex-congressman running for the Pennsylvania Senate seat was yelling about drilling in the Great Lakes again, despite the fact that they contain some 20% of all the world's surface fresh water and that even a smaller spill than the BP Gulf disaster could contaminate every drop of drinking water for 40 million people and destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs. What is wrong with these people?

"The level of debate regarding energy policy," Fred told me a few days ago, "just amazes me. Here you have a disaster of unprecedented scope, and yet there is very little of what I would call 'jumping up and down' in Washington. I mean, good grief, if this doesn't wake people up on energy policy, what will it take? What we've actually seen is a calcification of the partisan positions that are out there-- which I don't mind on our side because I know we're on the right track. But there hasn't been one single Republican who has moved in the direction of strong changes to our energy policy -- not one!

"I also wonder what the endpoint is of this process. When you have elected officials responding to this disaster by proposing greater deregulation of the oil and gas industry, where does that lead us?  Do we end up with oil drilling in the Great Lakes? That's the kind of thing that gets voters in my district just going crazy. But we have to see this as all interconnected. If you don't want drilling in the Great Lakes, then you have to send folks to Washington who get the picture on energy policy.  And I'm doing my best to lead on this locally-- I talk about it with voters all the time. That's why I've been very supportive of wind power here-- against some of the usual NIMBYism. We just gotta do this stuff."

Let's See Glenn Beck And John Boehner Blame Strategic Mortgage Defaults On ACORN Or Freddy Mac

This morning Ben Evans at A.P. reported that conservative Republican Congressman Bob Inglis has started coming clean on how his party's "leaders are acquiescing to a poisonous 'demagoguery'." He didn't specifically name John Boehner, Darrell Issa, Mike Pence, Eric Cantor or Steve King but his remarks sure smelled like he was talking about them. A.P. suggested he had Sarah Palin and right-wing talk show hosts like Glenn Beck in mind as "the culprits."

He cited a claim made famous by Palin that the Democratic health care bill would create "death panels" to decide whether elderly or sick people should get care.

"There were no death panels in the bill ... and to encourage that kind of fear is just the lowest form of political leadership. It's not leadership. It's demagoguery," said Inglis, one of three Republican incumbents who have lost their seats in Congress to primary and state party convention challengers this year.

Inglis said voters eventually will discover that you're "preying on their fears" and turn away.

"I think we have a lot of leaders that are following those (television and talk radio) personalities and not leading," he said. "What it takes to lead is to say, 'You know, that's just not right.'"

Inglis said the rhetoric also distracts from the real problems that politicians should be trying to resolve, such as budget deficits and energy security.

"It's a real concern, because I think what we're doing is dividing the country into partisan camps that really look a lot like Shia and Sunni," he said, referring to the two predominant Islamic denominations that have feuded for centuries. "It's very difficult to come together to find solutions."

Of course the widely disseminated, right wing propaganda about death panels that were so widely accepted by low-information, fear-driven and easily angered citizens-- especially those predisposed towards paranoia and racist-- and yes, we just described the teabaggers-- wasn't the only meme Fox, Hate Talk Radio and the GOP got out there to their noisy shock troops as they pushed divisiveness to a societal breaking point. Another was how Barney Frank and ACORN and Obama and the Democrats caused the housing crisis by enticing poor people (read: people of color) into buying homes-- as if Ronald Reagan and George Bush weren't trumpeting the same theme and as if the predator banksters/GOP donors were just innocent bystanders in the whole socialistic mess!

Today's NY Times breaks the news that any honest realtor could have told you long ago: the biggest defaulters on mortgages are the rich, making strategic business decisions to walk away from investments gone bad: "[n]o need for tears, but the well-off are losing their master suites and saying goodbye to their wine cellars... More than one in seven homeowners with loans in excess of a million dollars are seriously delinquent [and] by contrast, homeowners with less lavish housing are much more likely to keep writing checks to their lender. About one in 12 mortgages below the million-dollar mark is delinquent... 'The rich are different: they are more ruthless,' said Sam Khater, CoreLogic’s senior economist."

Whether it is their residence, a second home or a house bought as an investment, the rich have stopped paying the mortgage at a rate that greatly exceeds the rest of the population.

...Lenders are fearful that many of the 11 million or so homeowners who owe more than their house is worth will walk away from them, especially if the real estate market begins to weaken again. The so-called strategic defaults have become a matter of intense debate in recent months.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two quasi-governmental mortgage finance companies that own most of the mortgages in America with a value of less than $500,000, are alternately pleading with distressed homeowners not to be bad citizens and brandishing a stick at them.

In a recent column on Freddie Mac’s Web site, the company’s executive vice president, Don Bisenius, acknowledged that walking away “might well be a good decision for certain borrowers” but argues that those who do it are trashing their communities.

The CoreLogic data suggest that the rich do not seem to have concerns about the civic good uppermost in their mind, especially when it comes to investment and second homes. Nor do they appear to be particularly worried about being sued by their lender or frozen out of future loans by Fannie Mae, possible consequences of default.

The delinquency rate on investment homes where the original mortgage was more than $1 million is now 23 percent. For cheaper investment homes, it is about 10 percent.

With second homes, the delinquency rate for both types of owners was rising in concert until the stock market crashed in September 2008. That sent the percentage of troubled million-dollar loans spiraling up much faster than the smaller loans.

“Those with high net worth have other resources to lean on if they get in trouble,” said Mr. Khater, the analyst. “If they’re going delinquent faster than anyone else, that tells me they are doing so willingly.”

Laughably, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Darrell Issa, Sean Hannity and other Republican clowns have tried to lay the blame for the housing problem on both working families and on progressives and no one more than on Barney Frank. It's become as much a truism among right-wing dim bulbs that Barney caused the housing bubble as it is that Obama is a fascist socialist Muslim born in Kenya or Indonesia. We caught up with Barney a few minutes ago at an airport on the way back to Boston. He had read the Times piece. "We've had," he began, "the worst economic situation since the Great Depression and it was caused by the right wing's commitment to deregulation non-regulation. And as to their blaming us, the Republicans controlled both Houses of Congress from 1995 'til 2006. I deny responsibility personally for the decisions of Newt Gingrich, Tom DeLay and Dick Armey. And I can prove that Tom DeLay does not take advise from me... because if he did, I would have told him not to go one that dance show."

Tomorrow the newest Blue America endorsed candidate, Fred Johnson (D-MI) will be joining us for a live chat at Crooks and Liars. This morning he told me that the Times report is "typical of the mindset. When it was working class folks who were underwater on their mortgages it was all about 'duty' and 'keeping your word' and everyone was supposed to just suck it up and keep paying their mortgages for the good of society. Now it hits the wealthy and suddenly a house is just a bad investment that they can simply walk away from. How about they start pulling on their own bootstraps for a change, instead of preaching to the rest of us? Of course, many of these folks got where they are through the very types of financial gimmickry that put the economy in the mess it's in now, so I guess it just shows that you reap what you sow."

Doug Tudor, the Blue America-endorsed candidate for the open seat in Hillsborough and Polk counties in Florida told us he had a similar perspective and took it right into the realm of everyday political decisions citizens have to make. “These people," he told me this morning, "have absolutely no shame, and they also have absolutely no love of country. This is just another example of the rich, and their Conservative career-politician apologists, taking advantage of the system at the overall expense of the American people, while further dragging our economy down with their wanton greed. The working-class people of FL-12 need to know their Representative in Congress will vote on their behalf to stop the rich from gaming a system to the detriment of middle-class America. Along with more robust financial reform legislation, we must also enact Campaign Finance Reform with teeth, so career politicians like Lori Edwards and Dennis Ross can’t use corporate lobbyist money to buy their way into the People’s House.”

Just about one year ago BlueNC, in its coverage of the mortgage meltdown, noted how local Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, who, except for her lack of influence, could well have been presumed to have been another divisive Republican fear and smear monger Inglis was referring to, couldn't wait to blame the victims for the collapse of Wall Street's mortgage gambling schemes. "As I sat and listened to the debate on H.R. 1106 on Thursday," wrote Betsy Muse, "I could not believe my ears. North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx blamed the mortgage crisis on the welfare mentality of dishonest borrowers who never intended to pay the money back. I have never been so ashamed of something that I personally did not say or do. It was disheartening to hear such bigotry come from a North Carolina representative to congress. Fortunately, Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida set Foxx straight." This is what the Republican Party is all about and why it is so crucial-- no matter how imperfect the Democrats are-- to keep them from regaining power:

"Think, Baby, Think!"- A Guest Post By Fred Johnson (D-MI)

One of the smartest candidates running for the House this year is Dr. Fred Johnson in western Michigan, for a seat being abandoned by the ever-ambitious twitterer Pete Hoekstra. Last month he did a great guest post at DWT on education and societal priorities and if you missed it, I recommend it strongly. Today he took a serious look at the tenor of American politics and gave me permission to share it. He also gave me something else-- a book he wrote with Tayannah Lee McQuillar, Tupac Shakur: The Life And Times Of An American Icon. I bet there aren't too many other members of Congress who could even tell you who Tupac was. In any case, this particular book he sent me is autographed and everyone who donates to Fred's campaign today (24 hours) will be entered into a drawing to win the book, complements of DWT. You can contribute here. Here's Fred's post:

Recently, while watching news about the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, followed by more reports from Arizona about one of the most radical, anti-person laws of the last 50 years, I wondered, “Where are the rational voices among the Republicans in Congress?” Rather than serious discussions about taking substantive measures to, once and for all, make America energy independent, protect the environment, and strengthen national security, the mantra persists: “Drill, baby, drill!”
 
That refrain, however, is far different from what voters-- Democrats and Republicans-- have been telling me over the last two weeks. Voters in Michigan’s 2nd Congressional District understand that the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and the immigration debacle in Arizona have changed the calculus on energy and immigration policy. Many local leaders acknowledge that people see the oil spill, and the protests against Arizona's SB 1070, as pointing to an urgent need for practical reform. Here in West Michigan, folks from both parties are already pursuing wind power projects for energy independence and environmental sustainability. Even our farmers know that we need a fair immigration system, including rational rules for temporary workers, so that they can get their crops in from the fields and out to market. But Congress refuses to speed up the pace on energy and immigration reform. Why?
 
There are many answers, but certainly a chief obstacle is that pressure from the extreme right wing/Tea Party ideologues prevents any Republican from adopting a reasonable, rational position. Consider the once admirable career of John McCain. Previously the promoter of immigration reform, and someone who campaigned in the Michigan primary as a clean energy supporter, he has distanced himself from himself. His apprehensions concerning J.D. Hayworth's far right primary challenge have caused him to attempt to out-pander his opponent. This is the situation that rejects a reality in which the vast majority of voters see that America desperately needs a new and robust approach to resolving its challenges pertaining to energy and immigration. Instead, right wing ideologues prefer the path of expediency. The pattern repeats itself in primary after primary. Never mind the needs of the country.
 
It’s going to be up to the voters to, once more, call the bluff of those who prefer to distract with fear and simple slogans rather than courage, hope, and vision. Only then will the right wing ideologues understand that rather than “Drill, baby, drill!” the people want leaders who prefer to “Think, baby, think!”

In Your Ideal Society Who Gets The Most Status, An Educator Or An Athlete?-- Guest Post From Fred Johnson, Michigan Congressional Candidate

I want to introduce you to a great congressional candidate from western Michigan who I've been talking with on the phone, Fred Johnson. People in Michigan's second district, from his hometown in Holland through Grand Haven, Muskegon, Ludington and out to Cadillac, don't need the introduction. They know Fred, at least, because of the spirited race he ran against entrenched incumbent Pete Hoekstra in 2008, garnering nearly 120,000 votes. This year Hoekstra is off on a quest for higher office and the GOP is likely to nominate a lunatic fringe extremist for his seat. Fred's got a much better chance to win in November than he did in 2008. There are a number of facets to Fred's life that make his candidacy so compelling-- from his international expertise to his service as a U.S. Marine officer, to the authoring of the most valuable book on the life of... Tupac, Tupac Shakur: The Life And Times Of An American Icon. But what I asked him to post about today was something I felt was most essential, American education policy, not surprising for a man who has devoted his life to teaching. So from a Ph.D., a professor and an inspiring congressional candidate whose two favorite Tupac songs are "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted" & "Brenda's Got A Baby," a guest post:

If only people in the U.S. could be as serious about funding and supporting education as they are about shoveling money into the pockets of professional athletes and team owners. For the last decade or more, Americans have watched with growing alarm and frustration the mounting struggles in the nation’s classrooms. Unfunded mandates like the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind wreaked havoc upon public schools. This program, another one in a series of “silver bullet” quick fixes, continued a long process of hollowing out (or eliminating) subjects like Art, Music, Physical Education, Geography, and Languages which educators had long identified as critical in the learning process. Worried parents demanded action and accountability from public officials who routinely deflected the angst with new initiatives that generated more spin than results. But for all of the public outcry and political bluster, Americans have demonstrated time and again that they are more willing to enrich those who make their living playing games rather than supporting those dedicated to educating the nation’s future. The late 1990s insanity in which the citizens of Cleveland, Ohio were bamboozled by Cleveland Brown’s owner Art Modell and co-opted by the Cleveland Indians baseball team offers a classic case.

Modell’s Stadium Corporation had paid the city of Cleveland $1 per year since 1973 to lease Cleveland Stadium. The revenues streams generated from renting suites and scoreboard advertising boosted profits to celestial heights. The management of the Cleveland Indians baseball team, which also played at Cleveland Stadium, wanted a share in those profits since substantial revenues were produced during baseball games. Modell refused. Indians’ management took their cause to the public and convinced city and county officials to build them a new facility by imposing a “sin tax” on alcohol and tobacco. After much wrangling, the tax passed by a close vote of 193,390 to 185,209 and the new stadium, Jacobs Field (named after team owner Dave Jacobs and eventually renamed Progressive Field) was constructed.

Modell’s revenue intake dropped subsequent to the departure of the Indians from Cleveland Stadium. Those were losses he refused to endure so he asked the voters for $175 million to refurbish and modernize the decaying facility. On November 7, 1995, with one of the most challenged school systems in the nation, and even after Modell’s announcement on November 6 that he had signed a deal to move the Browns to Baltimore the following year, the people of Cleveland, Ohio voted by a significant margin to provide public funds for Modell’s stadium remodeling project. Following the success of Modell’s tactics, cities like Detroit and Baltimore, both reputed to have some of the most dismal educational performance in the nation, agreed to construct new sports facilities with public funds in order to keep their teams from relocating. Other cities like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis, each with their own respective fiscal woes relative to education, also surrendered to the extortion.

Over ten years later, American educators are now scrambling to qualify for funds offered by the federal government’s Race to the Top initiative. Elected officials at all levels of government profess limitless devotion to the nation’s children and future while simultaneously vilifying their teachers for not being able to squeeze more academic water from their budgetary stones. Those officials have also rushed to join the chorus of teacher bashing since educators are a far more accessible and less dangerous target than companies outsourcing jobs overseas, powerful Wall Street interests, environmental polluters, and the scads of lobbyists who prowl the halls of Congress. A relentless campaign from numerous media outlets has succeeded in turning a once honored profession into being perceived as a last chance destination for those whose limited competency will not allow for much else.

The demands for excellence, dedication, and proficiency that citizens and their elected officials rightfully expect of educators and what they are willing to invest in education are chasms apart. But those great gaps of reality do not exist when those same citizens and elected officials are confronted with a choice to financially coddle sports franchises and professional athletes. The predicament presents a cognitive dissonance that’s so obvious it should defy the necessity of being mentioned. Nevertheless, Americans seem mystified that vast numbers of beleaguered and berated educators are not consistently producing more intellectual miracles in their crumbling facilities and environments which often require metal detectors and security guards. People who themselves would not tolerate such underpaid wages and conditions seem generally puzzled by the growing trend for young people to choose professions other than teaching. The increased “importation” of teachers from overseas to fill a growing U.S. teacher shortage does not strike educational critics as a situation that constitutes a crisis.

Conversely, the crisis events that took place in Cleveland, Ohio relative to the Browns’ 1996 move to Baltimore required little explanation. Normally tax-averse citizens responded with faithful urgency to keep their beloved Browns in Cleveland. As they cast their votes, much of the city’s educational infrastructure was crumbling around its teachers and students. The message from Cleveland and other cities across the land was plain enough: Americans place more value on those who play games for a living than those entrusted with educating the nation’s future. 

The protests of public officials, worried parents, and opportunistic opponents of public schools will ring hollow until Americans are willing to put up or shut up. A nation that prefers paying exorbitant salaries to athletes for playing games while allowing its teaching professionals to languish beneath opprobrium, economic distress, and constant curriculum experimentation from ill-informed (indeed, often barely informed) policymakers cannot legitimately claim its grave concern for a democratic future.

I hope you read that and had a chance to think about it a bit, not just on its wonderful face value but in terms of how much Congress would have to gain for someone like Fred Johnson, rather than another bumbling ex-athlete like Steve Largent, Jim Bunning or Heath Shuler-- like, for example, retired Bills and Steelers tight end Jay Riemersma. If you think Fred's is a voice that should be a part of the national dialogue, please consider donating to his campaign through ActBlue.      

 

Fred Johnson-- Taking It To The Republicans In Their Michigan Heartland

If you're looking for another petrie dish example of what's at stake in November, take a look at western Michigan's 2nd Congressional District. It's currently "represented" by the Cheney-esque Pete Hoekstra, but he's now engaged in the wingnut sweepstakes that will determine which of six raving lunatics will be the Republican gubernatorial candidate; Hoekstra's coming in second behind "unsure" (at least according to the rarely accurate Rasmussen).
 
The Republican congressional primary is a bell jar of right wing zealots. Two of the most conservative members of the Michigan legislature, Wayne Kuipers and Bill Huizenga (Bill was termed out in 2008), are laying claim to the "next in line" label. Both are actively courting the Tea Party and wave the Constitution around at every opportunity, with the usual exhortation to move policy backwards by decades, at minimum. Both of these candidates lay claim to the Dutch heritage and religious conservatism of the southern part of this Lake Michigan shoreline district, and have the connections to Lansing lobbyists to raise the money to be reasonably competitive. 
 
Bill Cooper, a serial entrepreneur from Muskegon, is the Phil Gramm clone in the race. He's never met a regulation or tax he doesn't want to kill, and can be counted on to oppose any financial reform, even the most tepid. His repeated buying and reselling of medium sized businesses on the lakeshore has produced a personal fortune which will keep him financially competitive throughout the race.
 
And then we come to Jay Riemersma, former tight end with the Buffalo Bills and Washington #%^**#'s. Running as the genial former football player, he is, in fact, the very recent former Midwest Regional Director of the Family Research Council. Writing in the Holland Sentinel on November 6, 2008, he asked Obama voters: "Did your choice honor the infallible truth found in God's word or help discredit it?" He further stated that "Too many Christians shroud their God-given light with misguided intentions and uninformed choices." Riemersma is the leading fundraiser in this race, as of the end of 2009, and has won GOP straw polls in the two biggest counties in the district, both by substantial margins. His Dutch/Christian Reformed credentials, and football player's popularity will make him hard to beat in the primary.
 
These are the "mainstream" choices for Republican primary voters. There are also a couple of Tea Party candidates on the ballot, in case voters want someone even more obviously off the rails and willing to lend himself to centerstage in a freakshow.
 
Fortunately, voters have a terrific choice on the Democratic side. Dr. Fred Johnson, a history professor at Hope College, is making a second run after taking on Twitter Pete Hoekstra in 2008. A genuine progressive, Fred is well positioned to take advantage of the rapidly changing demographics and political identifications in the district. 2008 saw a huge jump in the Democratic vote throughout the district. This was delivered primarily through the top-notch voter registration and GOTV efforts of the Campaign for Change. This district now has a whopping 45,000 first time voters, who can deliver this seat to Fred in November. Despite the fact that conventional wisdom calls this a safe Republican district-- and the most conservative part of Michigan-- it is very much worth noting that Senator Levin won here with 53% of the vote, and President Obama fell just short, at 48.5%. This district is turning purple rapidly, and 2010 can complete the process, something we should all consider helping along.
 
To give you a sense of Fred's priorities, here's a statement he gave me:

There are two interrelated issues that command the attention of any freshman progressive Representative: financial reform and campaign finance reform. The hard fact is that the two are so intertwined as to be inseperable. 
 
The mavens of Wall Street have proven both their incompetence, and their venality. Only the strongest possible financial reform package will stop another catastrophe from hitting our economy.  As a historian, I strongly reject the revisionism currently in vogue on the right, and feel that the reimposition of Glass-Steagall, and a whole host of strong reform measures is now demanded of Congress by the American people. This is one area where I diverge from the President. I believe we need stronger financial reform. Too big to fail is just plain too big.
 
But, how do we get there when the lobbyists and PACs of Wall Street have so much influence? My number one priority upon taking office will be the Fair Elections Now Act. This bill is a great first step in leveling the playing field at election time. But we need to do more. I strongly support the package of legislation being drafted by Rep. Frank and his colleagues in the Banking Committee. We need to take every avenue available to us to undo the destruction of the last vestiges of fairness in our campaign system wrought by the Citizens United decision. Whether it be through statutory restrictions on the political activities of corporations or, at minimum, much greater influence on the part of shareholders, we must strongly address campaign finance in order to have any chance at real reforms in other areas.